Laundry Lament

The act of washing clothing is very, very important in our house. In fact, I do at least one load of laundry every single day in an attempt to keep up with all the clothes-wearing that we do over here. I have no clue how it stacks up so quickly, but you can't turn your back on it or it will multiply further and attack you while you're sleeping.

A couple of months ago, one of our local grocery stores was completely out of the detergent that I prefer to buy. I still had a little left, so I waited another week or two, then went back to that store to attempt to purchase the detergent a second time. No luck. They were still out. I literally could not wash another load of clothing because I had nothing left, so I was forced to settle for something different. Grrrr...

I have sensitive skin, and there are a few things that really give me issues. Perfumes, Band-Aids, some soaps, and - you guessed it - detergents. When I was trying to decide what to buy, I knew which ones to stay away from, but there are so many these days, it's impossible to know for sure what will bother me (I obviously haven't tried all of them). I decided to buy Arm & Hammer. I'm thinking, "It's made with baking soda, no extra fragrances, etc...it should be fine, right?"

Oh, Lord. The first thing I discovered had nothing to do with my skin. Check this out:

Yeah. Nice.

That would be one of my almost brand-new shirts. And, no, that is not just detergent sitting on the fabric, because I tried rinsing it out in the hopes that it was. The color is actually bleached out of my shirt. Let me tell you how excited I was when I pulled that out of the washer. This isn't the only one, either. The count is now up to five of my shirts and one pair of my favorite pants. Some of the boys' clothes were also ruined.

Second problem: a couple of weeks after we returned from our beach vacation in September, I starting itching really badly. My back and my shoulders were the bad spots, so I assumed it had something to do with the horrific sunburn I got on our trip. That's about the same time I noticed that Ethan had a horrible, bumpy rash all down his neck and back, and covering some of his chest. Sure enough, Nicholas had it, too. Zoe has her Daddy's skin, luckily, so neither of them were affected. Three people, scratching away in their bleached-out clothing.

Obviously, I dumped what was left of the detergent and bought some of the old, tried-and-true stuff as quickly as I could. I now face the insanely difficult task of re-washing everything in our entire household. The seasons are changing now, so some of our warm-weather stuff might not get washed right away, which makes it worse. Sheets, towels, blankets, shower curtains, kitchen towels, dishrags, and on and on and on...

So, in conclusion...

Arm & Hammer. I HATE YOU. I will never buy anything else manufactured by you if I can help it. Thank you for ruining my clothing, because you know that I have an overabundance of free time to go and shop for new shirts and pants with my three small children and their extremely-patient-while-Mommy's-in-the-dressing-room behavior. It's totally fine. Also, I really appreciate the way you've caused me to consider tearing off my own flesh for relief because I can't take the itching anymore. Oh, and my children don't mind the burning itch, either. Thanks for asking. Bite me.